Come Along, Pond
by quintessentialy
Summary: What if the adventures had never ended? (Pond-Era, as if TATM never happened).
1. Chapter 1

"Doctor." He didn't look up.

"_Doctor_." He hummed, raising his eyebrows but not turning around. He wouldn't give her that pleasure.

"I know you can hear me – you're not even that distracted!" Amelia huffed, standing up and walking over to him, spinning the swing around and shaking it when he was facing her. "Pay attention to me!"

He only laughed slightly, raising his sonic to fiddle with it. He lifted the goggles onto his forehead, staring up at her for a moment. "You do realize it's practically midnight – well, for you. I hardly sleep." He said, jabbing her in the arm with the sonic. She let go of the swing, and he continued, "You shouldn't be bothering me this late, Pond. You should be nuzzled down in your bed. Which is down the _hall_, not on the steps over there. I'm not carrying you to be again. That was – awful. And embarrassing, since neither Rory nor I could do it." He rambled, and she shook the swing again with frustration.

"I can't sleep! That's the problem. I'm not bothering you for no reason, honestly. I need help." She replied, and he rolled his eyes in the slightest, though he couldn't hide his smile. "Take me somewhere."

He shook his head immediately, and she let go of the swing once more, crossing her arms. "Why not?"

"Rory won't be there with us to keep you safe." She rolled her eyes at this and bit back a laugh. He could barely keep her safe back in Leadworth. He was all twiggy and gentle and the Doctor was too – with her, at least. But he had a _sonic._ That made him at least ten times more protective than Rory could be – in the face of danger, anyways.

"I don't need Rory to keep me safe. I have you." She replied, taking his hand and trying to pull him up. "Please? Show me some planets! You _love_ showing me planets. Really, you do. I know you do." She insisted, but he didn't budge from his seat in the swing.

"Amelia, it's late. You're tired, and you're going home tomorrow. You need rest," He sighed, standing up and gently pulling his arm away, turning toward some wiring and playing with it, trying to bend and fuse some wires together.

"That's an even _better_ reason to take me out on an adventure! You're taking me home tomorrow. Us. Rory and I." She replied, touching his elbow and sighing, pulling her hand away. "I don't know when I'll see you again."

He paused when she said that, knitting his eyebrows together for a moment and rubbing the bridge of his nose, glancing back at her. She looked hopeful, if not slightly somber after saying her past few words. He sighed and turned around, taking her shoulders into his hands. "One last adventure. _One_."

She grinned and let out a shrill squeal in delight, to which he groaned and turned her around, pushing her lightly toward the stairs. "Go on up. I'll be there in a minute." He replied, and she trotted up the stairs with the excitement of a child. He chuckled, watching her go before returning to his wires.

They were tied up.

Back to back, bound together by thick rope. He could feel his sonic in his back pocket, and he leaned his head back against Amy's shoulder with a small huff, turning to look at her. She looked rather annoyed – he didn't blame her.

"This is what you get," He sighed, though he was teasing her, "You ask for one last adventure and you get tied up and shoved into a jail cell." She turned to glance down at him, shaking her head and turning away.

"Shut up. Do you even have a plan? Do you ever have a plan?" She snapped, not realizing that his teasing was meant to lighten the mood. She felt her heart drop into her stomach at the thought of not seeing Rory once more, and she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, "_Please_ tell me you have a plan."

"Oh, Amelia." He sighed, straightening himself and letting his fingers brush against her palm, "I always have a plan. But you're going to need to help me."

"Of course I'll help you – I always help you. When have I ever not helped you?" She mumbled, glancing down at her lap and then looking back up, turning her head, "What is it?"

He shifted onto his side, grunting and trying to adjust himself, "Reach into my back pocket," he explained, "And grab my sonic. Press the purple button on the side, point it at the ropes. They should unravel." She'd already begun to dig into his back pocket as soon as he told her too, her wrist being burned by the ropes as she did so.

"Amy, you're barely touching anything – no, it's further down. You're practically just fondling my bottom!" He guffawed, and she groaned and rolled her eyes at him, pulling the sonic out with her fingertips and letting it clatter to the floor. She flicked her wrist to pull it out from between them – she sent it flying across the room instead.

"Amy!" He yelped, and she shoved her shoulder back to hit his.

"Shut up! They'll hear! I'll just – reach over and get it!" She said, rolling her eyes and moving her legs (also bound together), toward the screwdriver. She caught it with her heel and slid it back across the floor, and the Doctor let out a fond sigh.

She paused to smile and try to sneak a glance at him the best she could, opening the screwdriver panel and tapping the purple button. She pointed the screwdriver toward the ropes, pressing the bronze button on the side, and the ropes immediately began to loosen.

She stood up, holding the screwdriver with her palm as soon as she was untangled from the ropes. She brushed herself off, handing the screwdriver to the Doctor as soon as he was up. "Those legs of yours." He said, laughing slightly and brushing his fingers against her neck, grabbing at the back and pressing a kiss to her forehead, nuzzling her hairline adoringly. "Come along, Pond. We've got to get out of here."

They somehow found their way back to the TARDIS, chatting quietly under their breath as they slipped through silent corridors.

"Why do these creatures dislike you so much?" Amy asked softly and curiously, ducking around a corner and pressing her back to the wall. She felt like a spy in one of the movies she had enjoyed growing up – and she loved it.

"Dislike me? Oh, they abhor me. Then again, many people do. There was a war – hundreds of years back – and I released one of their war criminals from a prison. By _accident_, of course, but he may have caused quite a bit of trouble and the collapse of the planet's economy. They healed, of course, but it was my fault. I thought they would be over it by now, considering their economy is better than ever, but I suppose they still hate me just as much as they did when I first arrived." He said, pressing a hand to her back to usher her forward and through a dim doorway, and into a darker hall.

"You brought me here because you thought they would be over it?" She asked with the smallest of laughs, and he shrugged.

"I wanted to make amends. They wanted to end our lives – I suppose neither of us will get what we want today, hm? At least you got what you wanted."

"Oh, of course! Because nearly losing my life without kissing my husband goodnight is what I call an adventure." She scoffed, and he paused for a moment, furrowing his brow.

"Relationship problems?"

"Oh, no. I just didn't feel like kissing him goodnight."

"Why couldn't you sleep, Amelia?" He asked her, and she shrugged and looked away for a moment before glancing back at him – he seemed just as concerned as before.

"We're not having _problems_, Doctor. We're fine. He's fine." She replied, omitting the 'I'm fine' that should have followed. He turned her around and held her by her shoulders, pushing her forward.

"Of course. My Ponds are always fine. Except for when Amy can't sleep in the same bed as her husband." He muttered, and Amy whipped around to look at him.

"I can, too! You don't know our relationship, Doctor. Don't act like you do."

"I'm not acting like I do, Pond. I _do_. I hear you fight!"

"Oh, you're such a child sometimes! What are you doing, pressing your ear to the door and listening to us? We _whisper yell_." She exclaimed, and the Doctor rounded another corner and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into a nearby closet with him. He shut the door gently behind her, fumbling around in the dimness for a moment.

"Is it me?"

"What?"

"Am I causing Pond relationship troubles?"

"Oh my _god,_ no! No, no. And even if you were, we wouldn't talk about it here. We are still on the brink of death, Doctor. And we can't find the TARDIS – we can talk about it sometime. Maybe. Not here. Please not here." She insisted, and he shook his head, playing with his bow tie nervously, rubbing his jaw afterwards.

"I want to know."

"There's nothing to know."

"_Amy._"

"Doctor, stop –"

"_Amelia_."

She caught his gaze in the darkness, and held it for a moment before shaking her head. She opened the door to the closet and darted out, trotting down the hall and ducking through another doorway. He followed and they found the TARDIS in silence.

Once inside, he sent them away to go hover in a safe, far away galaxy. She went to bed without a word.

Neither of them slept well that night.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor dropped the Ponds off at their home, perfectly safe and happy enough (as far as he could tell) the next morning. He spun the TARDIS off to some planet where he could just sit – only for a few moments – and think. He didn't want to wait for them, but he knew they would always wait for him – Rory had requested such a _long_ vacation from the TARDIS;

"Three _weeks_?" Amy scoffed, looking at her husband around the console, raising her eyebrows, "I was thinking more of three _days_." Rory groaned in response, leaning against the console and rubbing one of his eyes.

"We've been here so long, Amy. Really. I think it's time that we start taking longer breaks," Rory began, but the Doctor trotted into the room with a few books in his hands, immediately feeling the tension between them. He set the books down in the pilot's chair, moving toward a rather distressed-looking Amy.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Pond? Is Mr. Pond giving you some trouble?" He asked in a joking manner, but Rory sighed (_in a rather condescending way, if that was possible, _the Doctor remembered) and turned away.

"He wants us to leave for three _weeks_. Weeks! Can you believe that? That's twenty-one _days_. Twenty-one nights without adventures! Just work and sleep and regular boring Earth food!" She complained, and Rory turned to look at her again, frowning.

"I thought you _liked _boring Earth food – and work and sleep. In a regular house without the worries of dying on the run from some sort of intergalactic trouble that _your_ best friend always gets us into!" Rory replied, getting rather snappy and frustrated.

"I do like boring Earth food – but I want this. I want more adventures. I'm getting _old_ –" She started, and the Doctor laughed slightly.

"Old? Old is over a thousand years old. I'm old. You've still got – decades to travel. I don't think three weeks will hurt you." The Doctor chuckled, and Amy shot him a look and bit down on the inside of her cheek, "But I wouldn't want to see you gone for that long."

"Thank you! See? I don't want to leave – the Doctor doesn't want us to leave – Rory, we can't take such a long break. He needs us."

"He needs _you_."

There was a bit of silence after that, the Doctor edging a bit closer to Amy. Rory was glaring at her (or was he glaring at him?) and the Doctor thought about saying something before Amy stormed off and up the stairs, running down to the bedroom and closing the door loudly. Rory paused for a moment before walking after her, sighing and glancing back to shake his head at the Doctor when he tried to follow.

They emerged, a bit later, saying that he should pick them up in two weeks' time. The Doctor (unhappily, but easily hiding it) obliged.

And now he was sitting, alone, and quite tired and confused with himself (and quite missing Amy already).

* * *

><p>Amy was glaring at Rory.<p>

No, she was just looking at him – with her eyes narrowed. Slightly.

He'd gotten her to come home and they compromised (though it was more for him than for her) on two weeks of vacation from the Doctor. He'd eased her into dinner and then into sitting on the couch together with some wine to watch a movie. He was nearly asleep already, making half-hearted comments at the movie and finishing off his glass. Amy hadn't even started hers.

He turned when he felt her eyes on her, and just caught her as she turned back toward the television. He sighed. "Amelia," he began, but she quickly turned to look at him again, shaking her head. "Amy," he huffed.

"I'm mad at you."

"I can tell. If looks could kill, I would have been dead _hours_ ago," he replied, pausing a moment before asking, "Are you really that angry with me?"

She was silent. Was she really _that_ angry at him? She was, she thought, until she looked at him. He only wanted to have her to himself – she smiled slightly and reached over, touching his hand for a moment before pulling away. "Yes," she replied, (half)jokingly, "but I'll get over it."

* * *

><p>Somewhere else in the universe, the Doctor was alone.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

/Haven't updated this in a while. Almost forgot it existed. Oh, well.

Two weeks passed.

Two weeks passed for them and two weeks passed for the Doctor and he was back in their backyard, grinning at them from the doors and opening his arms wide for Amy (and Rory, though Rory smiled much less enthusiastically at him and gave him what the Doctor later concluded was the worst hug the universe had ever known).

Three hours after letting them settle back in and making Amy a cup of tea – purple, and with little weird bead-like fruits in it that she could chew on while the Doctor rambled to her, and Rory had picked up the book he had been reading when he left their house and was sitting in their bedroom, rather alone as Amy ran about the ship with the Doctor, sipping on her tea and playing with his bow tie whenever he gave her the chance.

Rory read his book distractedly, thinking about Amy touching his bow tie and laughing at his stupid jokes and drinking all of that awful alien tea, and he slowly found himself grow more and more – _stressed_. Stressed by how much she seemed to enjoy the Doctor's company compared to his, and stressed by how insecure he was about losing her – she knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it, though he and Amy rarely ever talked about it because it made him emotional and she always felt awful about herself afterwards.

Rory slipped a bookmark into his book, set it on the nightstand, and set out to find Amy.

He didn't find her until an hour had passed and she was sleeping on a couch in the library, head in the Doctor's lap as he read a book out loud – some book about biology and cell splitting. Rory cleared his throat rather loudly when he entered the room, crossing his arms and standing in the doorway. The Doctor straightened up and quickly set his book aside, offering Rory a small smile that he did not return.

The Doctor somehow slipped himself out from under Amy, covering her with a blanket before trotting over to Rory, fumbling with his (loosened?) bow tie the entire time. "Rory! The Roman!" The Doctor exclaimed quietly, glancing over at Amy, who had rolled over and let out a loud snore, "What can I do for you?"

"I was looking for Amy. You know, checking up on her. Like a good husband." Rory mumbled, sighing and scratching his nose, "Looks like you're taking care of her."

"Well, she was happy to see me and then she had some of the tea and you know – you know how she gets. All cuddly when she's tired. I was reading her a book about planets and then she got slightly bored, so I switched over to a book on biology! Did you know that some aliens, specifically those in quadrant QXV-eighty-nine of the twelfth Poloni galaxy, their cells split ninety-six times more frequently than human cells? Can you imagine how complicated their systems must be –" The Doctor had begun to ramble to Rory, but Rory wasn't having any of that. He shuffled his feet and cleared his throat again, causing the Doctor's jaw to promptly lock shut and his eyebrows to flicker upward, hands folding behind his back. "I was simply reading to her, Rory."

"Why is your bowtie like that?"

"What?"

"Your tie, it's all loose. Why?"

"Ah, well. Amy –"

"Oh, shut it." Rory huffed, storming over to the couch and nudging Amy, lifting her half-asleep form as she grumbled about _biology_, something that Rory would normally find interesting but now found utterly _annoying_. He promptly carried her from the library and to the bedroom, where he sat her down and talked and talked and talked until Amy felt like her eyes might roll so hard they'd fall out of her head.

"Are you really so upset about a stupid bow tie, Rory?"

"It was loose!"

"I was just playing with it! The same way I play with your hair when you're sleepy or play with the buttons on my blouse when I'm trying to distract myself – oh, you're being ridiculous. Totally and completely."

"I don't trust him."

"You sound more like you don't trust _me_." Amy pointed out, and Rory shut his mouth quickly, running his hands over his face and groaning loudly. Amy stood up from the bed, a blanket wrapped around herself. "I'm going to find the Doctor. You can stay here and act ridiculous or you can come with me for an adventure. I recommend the latter, but you probably won't choose that since you'd rather be absurd than trust me! Your _wife!_" Amy whisper-yelled, turning and storming from the room.

Rory groaned in the bedroom, Amy fumed in the hallway, and in the kitchen, making biscuits, the Doctor was thinking about Amy's hands on his tie.


	4. Chapter 4

/ I'm going to try and update this at least once a week, now – probably more – reviews, favorites, and follows are so appreciated! Happy to see that people are enjoying the fic! Xx

Another day, another adventure – though another day kept coming, and so did another adventure, and finally it had been thirteen days and Rory felt as though he was going slightly insane while Amy felt as though she was on top of the world. And now, in the jungle of the planet that the Doctor called Keru, without pronouncing the e _or_ the u, Rory was kicking a rock and the Doctor was trying to teach Amy how to swing from vines.

"Put your foot there, in that little loop." The Doctor told her, holding the fine taut while Amy slipped her foot in, wrapping her hands around the vine, "Alright, I'm going to pull you back, up toward that hill. When you go down, your foot should slip out relatively easily, you know, and you can grab onto that purple vine and –" The Doctor rambled, Amy rolled her eyes, and Rory plucked little oddly-shaped blades of grass, his back to a tree stump. The Doctor grabbed her by the hips, tugged her back, and let her go.

Amy screamed, gleefully at first, and then in pain after she'd failed to get her ankle out and broken it as she fell. "Doctor!" She shouted, crying and covering her face with her hands as Rory leaned over her, grabbing her twisted ankle carefully, touching it gently, "Ow! _Rory!" _

"I'm just trying to help!" He shouted back at her, but she pushed him away when he tried to touch it again, "Doctor, help me pick her up?"

The Doctor, all the while, had been staring at the two of them from the bottom of the small hill, fumbling with his sonic unconsciously in his hands, "Ah, right! Sorry, my apologies, Pond – Ponds – let me help." He trotted over, leaned down next to Amy, and scanned her ankle with his sonic. "Hold on – let me – set it to a frequency –", when the Doctor flicked his sonic again, Amy felt her ankle go numb and a strangle tingling sensation pool in her ribcage, "Ignore the tingling. Your ankle will be numb 'til we get you proper medical care – Pond! Rory, specifically, let's go."

They lifted Amy up, the Doctor holding her ankles gently while Rory carried the top half of her – Amy pointed out that one of them could easily have carried her in their arms but the Doctor complained that he was far too noodle-y, as she had said to him before, and Rory didn't even try to come up with an excuse. They carried her back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor nudged the door open with his foot and they set her down in the pilot's seat.

"Pond. Status report – feel alright?" The Doctor asked, closing the TARDIS door and then leaping toward the console, Rory crouching down to look at her ankle. Amy swatted his hands away.

"I'm _fine_ – Rory!" She huffed, grabbing his hands finally, holding them tightly in hers and placing them in her lap, "Stop that. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You're not in pain?" Rory asked, and for a moment Amy felt like he wanted her to be in pain – he was a nurse, she knew, always trying to help people out, and he seemed much quieter lately, as if he felt excluded. He was like Rudolph, and the Doctor and Amy were like all the other reindeer, having fun and gallivanting around the North Pole while he didn't get to have any fun in reindeer games – Amy sighed.

"I'm fine, Rory. The Doctor fixed it. I'll be okay." She tried to look stern but Rory's generally worried expression made her melt, and she had to lean down to press a kiss to his cheek. He was trying, and it was wonderful, and she made sure to press another quick kiss to his lips before pulling away. The Doctor had stared and quickly pulled a face when Amy caught him looking. She giggled and he chuckled, turning away and typing some coordinates into the TARDIS.

"Alright, Leadworth! Leadworth Hospital, to be exact – here we go!" The Doctor yanked down a lever and the TARDIS shook. Amy grabbed onto the side of the chair and Rory's hand, while the Doctor stumbled around the console to look at a monitor and press some multi-colored buttons.

They landed and the Doctor and Rory carried Amy, once more, out of the TARDIS and into the hospital waiting room. They were greeted with a wheel chair and Rory filled out some insurance papers that the Doctor had an awfully boring time reading and making fun of over his shoulder (_"An insurance card? You have to carry a card around with you at all times in case you get hurt? That's ridiculous! How can someone remember to carry so many cards around with them at all times? Humans!"_). The Doctor sat down in a chair and, much to his dismay, two hours later, Amy was released with a cast over her ankle and crutches.

"Oh, Pond! Your leg is all purple now," The Doctor mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the purple plaster surrounding her ankle and half of her shin, "looks like an odd skin disease I once knew of –"

"Shut up, you. I'm like this 'cause you don't know how to teach someone to swing from vines." She muttered, hitting his leg with one of her crutches and then limping toward the TARDIS, knocking the door open with one of her crutches and stumbling inside. Rory followed after her, silently, and the Doctor followed Rory, chattering on about the disease.

"Amy," the Doctor heard Rory whisper, and Amy whispered Rory's name right back. They both had that look on their faces, the one that made the Doctor's stomach go all topsy-turvy and made his hearts collide. He fumbled with his hands and then glanced around the console room, pressing some buttons and levers. He shot them off into some galaxy that had six peace treaties with each of the other galaxies surrounding it – he called them the Ultra Seven, considering they'd been without war for millions of years, and to him, that was rather spectacular – "I'm going to work on the console. Underneath. Don't mind me." The Doctor nodded, ducking his head and turning away, trotting down the stairs and snapping some goggles over his face. He didn't exactly touch any wires, though – he just sat there, in the swing, eavesdropping over their conversation and acting like he wasn't.

"You're hurt." Rory sighed, and Amy laughed and waved one of her crutches around, poking him in the hip with it.

"So what! I'm fine, the insurance covered it. It'll be healed in four weeks. I'm good, you're good, Doctor's good, TARDIS is good –" Amy began, but Rory cut her off with another sigh and two hands on her shoulders.

"It's break-time."

"No!" Amy whined immediately, groaning afterward, long and hard. Rory shook his head and rubbed her arms, pulling away afterwards, "Rory, I am fine! I'm so fine. I am great, actually. On top of the world!"

"Your ankle is broken because of that –"

"What? Because of that _what_?" Amy asked, suddenly feeling rather defensive. She leaned against the console and crossed her arms, setting her crutches aside.

"Hooligan. Doofus. Jerk. Ass –"

"Oh, you stop it! He didn't know my ankle was going to break, he thought he knew what he was doing." Amy sighed, and Rory rolled his eyes, rubbing his eyes with his fists. He was tired, exhausted actually, more from the current situation than any of the day's events.

"You always make excuses for him! Can't you admit that he did something utterly ridiculously _stupid_ and make him pay for it? You deserve better from him!"

"It was a mistake, Rory. Don't you understand? He'd never do anything to hurt me."

"Years, Amy."

"Rory!"

"He hurt you for _years!_" Rory nearly yelled, exasperated. Amy set her jaw and didn't flinch – instead she grabbed her crutches, and the Doctor could hear the tapping of them as she stumbled away, up the stairs and down the corridor. The Doctor fumbled with his sonic, twisted his mouth into a frown, and began to work on the wires.


End file.
